It is an unprecedented moment for Edinburgh: four new directors are about to preside over their first festivals. The international festival, the film festival, the fringe and the art festival have recently appointed fresh faces - the eldest aged 45, the youngest 30 - and hopes are high that they will usher in an exciting new era for the city's cultural life.

"There is the potential for radical thinking," said Jon Morgan, 45, the new fringe director. "All of us have come without baggage to the festivals."

Morgan presides over the most prominent festival, which with its sound and fury, can tend to drown out its rivals. He has a curious job in a way: unlike Jonathan Mills, new director of the international festival, he does not curate or programme the fringe, since it is open to any performer or producer who can find the money and venue to stage a show. He runs a small staff of 11, and receives only £47,000 funding per year plus rent-free premises from Edinburgh city council, compared with the £4m in public subsidy that goes to the international festival.

With a background in youth theatre, Morgan sees his role as one of nurturing and he is aware of the danger of stand-up comedy dominating at the expense of adventurous but less commercial theatre shows. "There's an element of the fringe that's very commercial and an element that's rather homemade. I want to retain that mix and encourage artists to be able to take risks.

"Most artists lose money when they come to Edinburgh; that's the hidden subsidy to the fringe, so we have to try and make coming here worth their while. I want to develop much more work around artist development and networking. I don't want theatre and dance to fall out of the programme. The festival would be much diminished."

The youngest and smallest of the festivals is the art festival, which quietly came into being four years ago and has appointed its first director in Joanne Brown, 32. Again, her job is not to programme or commission, but to draw together and promote the many art events and gallery shows that Edinburgh puts on in the summer. "There is outstanding work on show this year, and there's no reason that people who are interested in art shouldn't make Edinburgh in August a date in their diary just as much as those who are interested in the performing arts, or film," she said. "In five years I want international curators, artists, and gallerists to be thinking, 'Edinburgh in August is a place I have to be.'"

Hannah McGill is the youngest of the new directors, who, at 30, is presiding over the Edinburgh international film festival. "It's my job to balance the natural requirement for glitz and glamour in the festival with the important element of discovery," she said.

"As I see it, I get paid to fly round the world to find films, which people with proper jobs can't do, and I bring those films to Edinburgh. It's important to cast the net wide and bring things here that people otherwise wouldn't get to see. Some festivals are a lineup of greatest hits; some festivals are more bespoke. Ours is one of the latter category."

There has long been debate about the way these festivals, along with the highly respected Edinburgh international book festival, coexist; whether they should work more cogently together or revel in their differences.

Jonathan Mills, 44, director of the Edinburgh international festival, said: "As festivals we need to be more robust and aware of how we are perceived by the public. It's important for us to be focused on the integrity of our own organisations but not to be obsessed.

"We shouldn't seek competition, but should seek to point out our differences as a way of emphasising the richness and variety of what's on offer in Edinburgh. In the end people see shows that uplift, infuriate, excite, inspire, or disappoint them.

"They don't care what particular festival it's a part of. Together, we have a real opportunity to present this city in an extraordinary light - because there really isn't anything like it in the world."

Directors' choice

Jonathan Mills, international

Strauss's Capriccio: "It will be wonderful. Every festival director needs a bit of luck and mine was the cast of that opera"

Mabou Mines Dollhouse: "An adaptation of Ibsen that is spooky, postmodern and weird"

Impressing the Czar: "The William Forsythe dance piece has never been seen in its entirety in the UK before"

Hannah McGill, film

The Monastery: Mr Vig and the Nun: "A Danish documentary that's a beautiful and bizarre piece of poetry"

Protagonist: "A documentary on the structure of Euripidean tragedy. I've never seen anything that even reminds me of this"